Milltown Brothers

The back catalogue of the band has just gone up on iTunes :



1. Slinky. The original 10 track album.

2. More Slinky [Expanded with extra tracks]. Originally out with 17 tracks, this adds Roses, Which Way Original, Why Should I and Seems To Me Take 2. It is listed twice, one of them is not expanded.

3. Valve. The original 12 track album.

4. More Valve. This hasn't appeared before and is laid out as a 10 track album with 6 extra tracks. It includes everything which came out around that time.



Rubberband the third studio album from the Milltown Brothers is available online at :



7 Digital - Rubberband and Bonus CD.



iTunes - Rubberband.



Napster - Rubberband.



The proper Double CD itself with artwork, lyrics etc. has sold out.



Rubberband



You And Me

Cloud Nine

Rhyme

When A Heart Stops Bleeding

Goodbye



Surprise Me

Wide Open

December 1994

A Song

Sunday Morning

Everything



Bonus CD



Inkwell

So What She Said

Career

Freeze Frame

Central Reservation

A Lot Like Love

Outskirts Of Newmarket

On Our Street



Not Alone

Wake Up

Swimmers

Here With Me

Hear Me

Eraser

Rendition



From Colne in Lancashire, the Milltown Brothers first burst onto the indie scene in 1989 with the 'Coming From The Mill EP' getting single of the week in NME and featuring the songs Roses, We've Got Time and Something On My Mind.



Second indie single 'Which Way Should I Jump' started a bidding war between the majors with the exceptional 'Silvertown' added as the bside.



Signing to A&M worldwide in 1990, Which Way Should I Jump was re-recorded and broke into the UK charts at Number 38, a good start for a newly signed band but underachieving. The song is, quite simply, one of the greatest UK band singles to ever be heard and still stands up today. America liked it and put it to Number 10 in the US Rock Chart.



The album - Slinky - was a revelation and pushed the boundaries for their peers. Defying the critics who had incorrectly labelled them as baggy (due to 1 rhythmic song - Seems To Me - the sound of which was never repeated by the band) - the Milltown Brothers delivered an absolute classic album of catchy, punchy songs, perfectly paced and well-balanced. There have been few bands since able to produce an album where every song is as good as the last.



Tours galore followed, the album received a maximum 5 Stars in Q Magazine and for a while there, it looked like the band could do no wrong.



Disaster struck with the release of their next (and arguably superior) single 'Here I Stand'. Playing 3 times a day in independant record shops up and down the country for weeks before the release, the appearances (along with the press gathered) helped the single achieve a predicted entry into the Top 20. The UK Record Industry however, due to the volume of sales from the shops played in, decided to 'weight' the single, fearing chart-rigging. The single missed entry into the charts (along with a planned TOTP performance) and peaked at Number 41.



A&M bottled it and despite new material being ready for release that year - they put the band 'on the shelf' for 2 years and eventually picked the songs for their 2nd studio album - 'Valve'.



The album fared less well than Slinky, receiving average reviews. With a generally disappointing choice of songs, time (and their bsides) has since shown that a dynamite second album could have been released, had the band been allowed to go their own way. After years of contractual exile, a tour which received no advertising and singles released which the band did not even want on an album - the band walked from A&M.



It took 10 years for the band to work together again and in March 2004, they released their third studio album - Rubberband. Critically acclaimed and probably their finest release, Rubberband came out on their own label and was made available via the website at www.milltownbrothers.co.uk. Playing to their strengths, it once more demonstrated their head for melody, band dynamic and Matt Nelsons strongest set of songs yet heard. Described in Record Collector as 'a faultless third album', it is one of few truly great UK band albums to be released since 2000.



The jukebox is knackered at the moment, working on it.